Month: August 2018

We still had a large heirloom tomato to use, so we had toasted tomato and mayo sandwiches.

The heirloom tomato was $1.33 and we used about ⅓ or 22c per serve

Sprouted Rye bread is 32c per serve

Add 45c for butter and mayo.

Excellent ingredients, treated well make for a great sandwich for 99c per serve.

Dinner

Although schedule to have dinner with a business associate, we ended up eating at Gordon Biersch alone. While waiting we shared the calamari appetizer. The calamari was lightly drenched and perfectly fried.

We both chose the Smokey Chicken Tostadas, which is full of flavor because it’s on the ‘light’ menu. We find vegetarian or ‘light’ food tries harder to add flavor because they can’t fall back on meat.

Tonight’s meal was one of the better options at Gordon Biersch for $27.74 per serve.

Since we had a tasty heirloom tomato we decided to go for the simple cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, which was good.

The heirloom tomato was $1.57 and we used half on the sandwiches, or 40c per serve

Sprouted Rye bread is 32c per serve

Swiss slices are 12 for $3.99 or 33c per serve

Add 45c for butter and mayo.

A good sandwich for $1.50 per serve.

Dinner

We’ve enjoyed several good jambalaya over the years, and recently a deconstructed version at the Yardhouse chain. While deconstructed this goes in a different direction. The rice gets the vegetable component in the pressure cooker, while the andouille sausage and shrimp were sous vidé to perfection. The rice mix made four serves.

The shrimp was $7.99 for the pack, and we used half, or $2.00 per serve

The andouille sausage was $7.98 for the pack and we used half or $2.00 per serve

Rice adds 33c per serve

The celery was $1.69 and we used ¼ or 11c per serve

Organic bell pepper was $1.17 or 29c per serve

A can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes is $1.69 or 43c per serve

Add 20c per serve for seasonings.

Keeping the shrimp separate allows us to cook it to its perfect temperature, which is a lot lower than if it sat in a boiling stew! The andouille was fine sous vidé but we think we’ll fry it off Yardhouse-style next time. A great meal for $5.36 per serve.

Still in San Diego the Foodies had a working breakfast with Cirina Catania at Nutmeg Bakery Cafe.

Foodie Greg had the nutmeg scramble:

Local eggs, organic spinach, sun-dried tomatoes & home made sausage. Topped with goat cheese & served over home fries. Toast & fresh fruit.

Foodie Philip had an omelette with spinach and skirt steak with a mushroom dressing, served with home fries, fruit and sourdough toast.

Both were both great meals, cooked exactly as ordered. Our friend generously paid for our meal.

Dinner

While Thursday night is our steak/pork chop grill night, tonight we felt like having satay sauce, but had no appropriate steak in the freezer. Having done it once before, we decided to substitute marinated and grilled Japanese eggplant.

Two eggplants were $1.35 or 68c per serve

The peanut butter was $3.99 and we used about 1/8, or 25c a serve

Other seasonings in the satay sauce add 35c per serve

Add 50c for marinade ingredients

Bean sprouts were $1.49 but we used the remaining ⅓ or 25c per serve

Carrot adds 10c per serve

Mint came from our garden.

The eggplant ends up with a custardy, creamy center while being nicely caramelized from the sugars in the marinade, which also contributes to the crispy skin. Overall, way more flavor than even a great piece of top sirloin, but with a very different texture.

The peanut sauce, as usual was the star, while the bean sprout salad gave a wet, crunch balance to the spicy eggplant and satay sauce mouthful. A very satisfying meal for $2.13 per serve, about ⅓ of the equivalent steak meal!

We had a great time networking with some new, and old, friends from San Diego. By the number of people who went back for second and third platefuls the food was appreciated. We gave it a “pass” because it was prepared by the catering department, as is appropriate for larger groups, and not the kitchen who prepared our last meal there.

Our normal lunch of toasted sandwiches. Today we shared a tuna pouch with capers and Swiss, and a sandwich of elements of the Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Melange with Swiss. We used the panini press to defrost and heat the eggplant and bell pepper.

Today’s plans were disrupted so Foodie Philip finished the Ground Beef with Onion, Garlic and Spinach at $4.69 per serve.

Dinner

We’re reducing meat consumption by going for a meatless Monday (night). Tonight we prepared an Organic Apple Dijon Salad, but dropped the shredded cheese that comes with the salad, and adding some good cheddar instead.